Monday, December 9, 2013

So as you may have heard, the lads have a new album out. It's absolutely AMAZING and a step in the right direction (haha) musically speaking. Of course it went straight to #1 and is considered one of the top indie/alternative albums of the year. Can you believe it?! I am so happy for the boys for finally getting the recognition they deserve! One review even called this album a modern Rubber Soul of sorts. Music-wise they are nowhere near the original lads (and Harry agrees), but 1D have come a long way since Up All Night. If you thought Rock Me was hardcore, just listen to Midnight Memories and you'll be rocking out all night, stumbling in the street, singing, singing...! What makes this album super special however, is that the boys (Harry, Louis, and Liam to be exact) have co-written most of the songs on the album. Stand-outs include: Happily and Something Great by Harry, Strong by Louis, Don't Forget Where You Belong (basically a love song for his 4 pals) by Niall with a little help from his friends McFly, and of course Story of My Life by all 5. I'm hearing a lot of comparisons to Mumford and Sons, but instead of banjos I'm hearing a lot more guitars, which is a good thing. I should also say that their voices are absolutely knee-shaking and heart-melting; just listen to Zayn hit those high notes (in You and I, OMG OMG), Liam sounding like he was meant to sing 70/80s rock, Niall's surprisingly lovely/cheeky tones, Louis' seductively sweet soft voice and the perfect compliment to Harry's deep, oh so sexy rasp (also Harry's rocker yell in Midnight Memories, wow wow wow!). I can honestly say all the songs are just fab and are a nod to 70s/80s rock, which is perfect for the stadiums they're playing in next year (and lucky me I get to go!).

Sunday, December 8, 2013

On Friday I skipped worked and braved the cold to wait in line for maybe over 3 hours for NSSN2013. The line-up included a local band whose name I forgot but the beanie-wearing bass player was real cute. Then Capital Cities played and they had the coolest trumpet player. And finally, the moment I had been waiting for, Arctic Monkeys! They came out looking pretty sharp, Alex and Jamie especially. My dear sweet Al has changed since last I saw him. For one thing he kept on moving and shaking those skinny hips of his (not that I'm complaining) and the dance moves during Arabella are pretty priceless. What I'm really happy about is that I got see them preform Do I Wanna Know? live, and the let me tell you, the performance was just as sexy as the song sounds. After AM came AFI, not really my type of music but I appreciated the energy onstage. This is when the crowd went crazy though; everybody pushed and shoved, pressed up on one another, there were several crowd surfers. After that Queens of the Stone Age came on, I actually forgotten they were even playing so it was a nice surprise to see Josh Homme, one of Alex's good pals. After that, the other moment I had been waiting for, Vampire Weekend! They played a nice selection of all the songs I wanted to them to play, from Holiday to Diane Young. Ezra looked oh so cute in his Babar jean jacket and Chris Tomson was the only one who walked past right in front of the audience but silly me, I got too scared to even shake his hand. And the final act, Kings of Leon came one. To be honest the only songs I recognized were Sex on Fire and Use Somebody (1D did a cover of this song fyi), but it was a great set nonetheless. Because of the crazy crowd, it was really difficult to hold my hands steady while trying to take a picture, also from where I was, I only really had a good view of the lead singers and occasional glimpses of the other band members, so that who I have pictures of.

Out of all the pictures I took during AM's set, these were the only two decent ones.

Here's one of Josh Homme.

Vampire Weekend! (ok so they're mainly pics of Ezra with a cameo from Chris T.)